Archives for May 2013

My 10 year old is a naturally smart and bright kid. He’s blitzing through his maths, languages, reading, sports with ease… and he’s naturally very confident, which helps him a lot. He likes to aim towards 100% and he’ll work hard to get there.

My 8 year old is also good at school, but he has a different inner drive. He’s naturally creative, he’s an observer, a dreamer, he enjoys and studies the moment, in fact, he puts his everything into the moment. He’s superb at lateral thinking, he thinks outside of the box and comes up with the most amazing (and weird) ideas.

However, this kind of intelligence is not as *tangible* as say, a test result… and we can often see that he gets a little gloomy whenever he compares himself with his big brother’s “high achievements”.

Sigh. It makes me feel so sad and powerless. As a mum, I can only tell him “You’re smart as well, but in a different way!” a couple of hundred times… until it goes in through one ear and out the other.

So I thought I would nurture his creative side a bit… and put my own 5 YEARS OF ART SCHOOL + 3 YEARS OF DESIGN SCHOOL to good use haha!

In our backyard, we set up a still life composition, using random objects that my son found.

We sat side by side and I – kind of – coached him without being too bossy:

Don’t draw a definite line. Draw a feathered line, until you get the right shape. Change your line weight to show where the light falls on the object. Thin lines for the light bits, thick lines for the dark bits. Squint your eyes to find the dark parts of the composition.

He didn’t listen to any of it haha!

If my 10yo was doing this drawing project with me, he would draw a line, then rub it out. Draw another line, then rub it out. He would try again and again until he made it PERFECT. He would make himself terribly frustrated and angry that his drawing “looked bad” and he’d be on the brink of giving up.

But my 8yo… just sat there for an hour with me, as happy as could be. Drawing. Doodling. Playing with the lines. Enjoying the shapes. Laughing at his wonky objects. He would occasionally look over at my drawing and say, “That’s cool!” and go right on with his own drawing, in his own style. He was so so content.

I opened up my old box of soft pastels (which I won as an art prize in Year 11!!)

And I showed him how to SEE COLOURS within colours:

Your brain says that the wheelbarrow is ”orange”, but if you squint and look veeeeeery closely, you’ll notice that it’s actually red in the shadow and pinkish in the light. The rust is brown with a bit of blue in it too.

I was sooo channelling my inner Monet, and I was COMPLETELY LOVING IT :D

I showed him how to shade objects so they looked 3 dimensional.

And how to actually SEE shadows and light as blocks of colour.

I also told him that the background is just as important as the foreground. So we have to colour in bits of the background, so the objects don’t look like they are floating in space.

As we approached the end, I kept saying that art is not meant to look perfect. If you want something to look perfect and exact, then you can just take a photo. Art is interpreting what something looks like to YOU.

I told him – So really, you can draw any way you want. There’s not right or wrong way.

When he announced that he was finished, there was no shyness, or regret, or apology, or disappointment or anger… just happiness and real pride in his work.

I have to admit that I was quite surprised by his end reaction/emotion.

Because, I felt a bit bad that mine looked quite realistic and “good”. Maybe I should have made mine look a bit more crap?? I was afraid that he would compare our work and hate his own work, and decide that “art” was not for him because he couldn’t make his drawing look like his mum’s drawing. But phew. Thankfully, that kind of thinking wasn’t part of his personality. I was so proud of him!

I told him that I was impressed with his first effort. And more importantly, that he had an excellent attitude towards experimenting, learning new things and he didn’t judge and criticise his own work. He worked hard and he enjoyed himself.

Anyway, it’s been a few weeks after our little “Art Lessons”… and it now seems like this nurturing of his creative side has given him A LOT more confidence in the rest of his school work – he’s been getting some excellent results! Funny how it all works.

I’ve never actually shopped at ModCloth before, but I know LOTS of people who have and they are always really happy with their items.

Also, whenever I go to weddings or afternoon tea party functions, I’ll usually see a woman in a pretty, eye-catching dress… and I will always go up to her and ask where she got it from… more often than not, the woman says “ModCloth!”

Soooo… the other day I decided to try it out for myself.

Here are some dresses that really caught my eye. They have lots of styles for parties, special occasions, casual, floral, prints, maxi, minis and more.

My biggest boy turned 10 years old (eeek!) and we recently celebrated the occasion with 8 of his best friends from school.

My husband and I made a Minecraft Cake and it was exactly the same as the one we made last month, for my 8 year old boy haha!

We had planned to correct all the problems of the first cake and perhaps experiment on our techniques to make it look better… but um, we were busy (lazy) and there was a bit of miscommunication (we had an argument) and… so, nope the cake turned out EXACTLY the same.

The party was in our backyard again. The weather was glorious and sunny.

The boys played a whole bunch of games and had a water balloon fight. They had loads of fun.

I filled over 200 water balloons and put them in an huge 50L plastic tub…

But after the water balloon throwing, I made the boys pick up all the balloon bits…

And I was surprised that we couldn’t fill a 500mL Chinese food takeaway container :P

For dinner, I made homemade pizzas for the 8 boys, plus my 3 boys. I was a little shocked by how much food growing boys can eat!

This here was the grand finale – the chocolate pizza. It had a Nutella base, chocolate frogs, shaved chocolate topping and milo sprinkled on top. It was a hit.

As for how I feel about my oldest child turning 10 years old…? Gosh, that is definitely for another post :)

White on White spots (Or black on black spots)
Most dotty prints are black on white (or white on black). So try finding tops or bottoms with white dots on a sheer white fabric. Or vice versa. Or maybe the dots are embossed on the fabric?

It will create a kind of cool texture (and not clash TOO much) when paired with another bold print.

Classic Breton Stripe Top with anything spotty
This one is nice and simple. There’s a good chance that you have a classic stripe top in your wardrobe. Why not try it with some spotty bottoms. A spot pencil skirt. A circle skirt with stars on it.

Or in my case, some silk shorts with palm trees on it – random enough?

A friend of mine owns an amazing old house, called Blue Waters. It is in an art deco style, built by a rich family in the 1950s. It is like walking back in time as the house has been restored back to it’s original splendour… and my friend makes it available for hire for special events, parties, weddings, a photography location or for holiday guests to stay.

I’ve been to several special events there, charity functions, glamorous dress up parties, an exquisite dinner party and so on, but right now, it is being used to shoot a movie! It is a thriller by John V. Soto, starring Jonathan LaPaglia and Luke Hemsworth. It’s called “The Reckoning” and it is about a detective who is on the trail of a killer, and who is looking for two young runaways whose video footage contains the identity of the murderer.

So when my mate Dave asked me if I’d like to pop in to see how the movie was being made, I couldn’t resist the invitation!

Of course, I know about lighting, special effects and other movie trickery that are used to make things seem more fantastic…but I’ve never actually seen it happen.

So I turned up at sun set, to see the outside of the house being filmed for an “establishing shot”.

They were filming Blue Waters at sunset, to capture the dramatic, golden light. It was great to see the house look so luminous and big!

A lot of people were standing around, watching the house, and nothing much seemed to be happening. I somehow expected for there to be lots of people running around with someone else shouting at them. But it was all so quiet, and professional… with everyone just quietly doing their job.

There are a lot of official procedures on a film shoot. I had to be taken over to the office site (where all the actor’s caravans were parked, where the crew and actors have their meals, etc) to get myself officially signed in.

The whole thing was so organised and seemed to run like clockwork.

When I walked around on the set… what struck me most though, was, just how CROWDED it was, even in the big house. There were close to 30 specialists standing around (just waiting to do their job at a moments notice, I’m sure) make up people, stunt guys, action coordinators, lighting guys, director and associate producers and directors.

Also there was so much equipment EVERYWHERE! Cable, lights, clamps, stands, weird and amazing lighting thingies, microphones, props, make up kits, bags of coloured tape and lots of stuff I’ve never seen before.

Another thing that surprised me was how quiet it was. Everyone seemed to know what to do and when to do it. And when they were about to start filming a take, the whole house went deathly quiet. I didn’t even dare take a photo during that point, because I knew my DSLR camera would click loudly.

For one take, the main actor had to simulate being shot in the shoulder (I think) and falling to the ground (on a mat). It was pretty intense. The gun shot sound for the actor to respond to was actually someone shouting “BANG!!!!!!!!” and it was SO LOUD AND SO SHARP, that in the quiet house, I thought it was an actual gun because it echoed off the walls and floor. Interesting. I’m sure a real gun effect will be put in later in the editing.

I’m now quite astounded to realise how DIFFICULT acting is. The actor had to do this take several times, with everyone in the room looking at him. And yes there was this huge expectation TO GET IT RIGHT.

I stood there thinking, imagine if they were shooting a steamy sex scene, with so many people watching… how awkward would that be?!? (Apparently, when they do, most of the crew leave the room so the actors can do “practice their craft” in a little more privacy!)

After the take, I spied on the sound guy. He was watching the replay and checking the sounds.

I found it funny that he had completely taken over the kitchen and placed himself near the bowl of fruit.

Then I went upstairs and found some other actors waiting for the next take.

The upstairs room at Blue Waters is usually a party and dancing room. It is usually empty, except for a few bits of icon furniture: a fireplace, a chaise lounge, a baby grand piano. But today it was turned into a cosy and inviting bedroom.

Last of all, I made my way outside to photograph the huge balloon light they set up outside the house. The light was 2 storeys tall! It was very cool!

So, it was such an interesting experience to see how a movie is made. And most of all…I didn’t realise how labour intensive AND time consuming it is to make a movie. No wonder movies are so expensive. It’s an amazing business.

If you are interested in following the making of the movie, you can go check out The Reckoning Film Facebook Page. They have been shooting for 3 weeks around Perth, at locations such as Jandakot Airport, Leeming, Como, South Perth.

Swarovski also sent me a few other pieces (that I picked out) to play with and show off, and here they are…

This is the Toya Necklace. Glittering with oceanic hues of turquoise, light blues and greens, it is clearly inspired by the corals and underwater wonders of the tropics. It definitely made me gasp with delight! I adore its sparkly bling, the weight of it, the colours, and the size of the jewels making the necklace a statement piece indeed.

It went beautifully with my turquoise gown. But I also easily wore it with a black, white, or coral coloured dress.

I’d definitely wear it with a casual white shirt too.

And this is the Triumphal Earrings. So versatile in style, you could wear these babies with anything… and enjoy their big wow factor.

I chose to wear it with a simple white lace dress, emphasising the earring’s romantic yet modern look.

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Basically everyone in the family had lots of jobs to do… so I gave him instructions for his tasks a little at the time, not to overload him.

But he kept ignoring them or forgetting them, he kept getting distracted, thinking it might be better to do something else first, staring into space, annoying his brothers, picking fights with his brothers, wanting to trade tasks with his brothers, getting upset because his brothers had less jobs to do (because they were actually *doing* their jobs, thus had less jobs to do)… and I kept trying to gently get him back on track, gave him reminders, encouragements, incentives, helping him visualise his rewards or punishments, warnings about possible consequences… but he just got worse and worse.

And my temper escalated and escalated until I TOTALLY lost my shit and gave him the biggest and crankiest ear bashing ever… and he was grounded for all eternity. It all ended with something like this, “I’M IN SUCH A FOUL MOOD THAT I DON’T WANT TO EVEN BE IN THE SAME ROOM AS YOU. I’M SO ANGRY THAT I NEED TO LOCK MYSELF UP IN THE BATHROOM AND CRY. SO YOU CAN JUST LIE ON YOUR BLOODY BED UNTIL NEXT WEEK!!!”

I did lock myself in the bathroom and cry.

Thankfully my husband came home and sorted everything out.

Later that night, (I was still grumpy at my son) he came up to me quietly, gave me a quick hug and said that he was sorry for upsetting me, and that he went to the shops with dad and bought a Sorry Bug for me.

He quickly left (as instructed by his father) to go to bed and I was left with the stupid Sorry Bug.

Upon slow inspection… siiiiigh my heart melted.

Aaah kids!

Why do they drive us so insane?!

And why do they have to be so darn beautiful and easy to love?!

I crept into his room, snuggled into bed with him and had a cuddle. I said sorry for shouting at him and he promised that he would to concentrate more on his instructions next time.

(So we made up, but he has still lost all his screen and computer time for a week, I’ve confiscated his football cards for a week, and no playdates for a week!)

I am exhausted. I keep wondering if the problem is that I am not strict enough on him BEFORE he gets out of hand, and then it is too late. Or if I am too strict on him, and that’s WHY he gets out of hand, as an act of rebellion. Or if the problem is that he is just deliberately drawing a hell fire of negative attention down upon himself – just to get the attention of his mum and dad back on him, and away from the other boys. He is the middle child, after all, as I was.

I’m sure that I will never really know the answer to this question – and probably, neither will he.

I have not been cycling for a few weeks now. It’s driving me a bit crazy, but with my mummy duties and my work piling up, lots of family and social activities on the weekend, my children’s sporting commitments… it’s been tricky for me to find 3-4 hours for myself. I’m not complaining though, because…

I’ve dived head first into running!

It’s just so easy to put my kids on bikes and go to the park.

I run while they ride. They think it’s a game. Or a race.

Sometimes they like to run WITH me. Which is a bit humiliating for me, because both my 10 and 8 year old can run faster than me.

My 4 year old also likes to scoot alongside me, shouting “RUN FASTER MUUUM!!!”. On the downhill paths, he purposely scoots faster and ahead of me, lifting up one leg like a ballerina and gives me the cheekiest smiles. It’s so cute. Like I have my own cheerleader who keeps up with me. Who happens to be 4 year old.

Right now I can go the distance of 2km, running only, with no stops. Not very much, but hey, it was better than when I started at 200m!

I like to keep my older kids updated on how far and long I can run before I “crash and burn”… and each time it’s a little bit further and longer. On one hand I do this to show off (I have to tell somebody ok!) and on the other hand, I want them to understand that if they want to see results, all they have to do is practice a little bit, day by day.

I think they get it. They are very sweet and kind towards me and give me lots of encouragement.

I also tell them that one day we’ll ALL run a marathon together, and they like that idea a lot.